Games Lawyer-Senators Play (party disloyalty)

WASHINGTON (AP) - reported By LIZ SIDOTI "I think it's time for the Senate to give him an up-or-down vote. Now," the president said. Bush has said Bolton, with a history of blunt talk and skepticism about the U.N.'s power, would lead an effort to overhaul the world body's bureaucracy and make it more accountable. Even before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (JD -George Washington School of Law, 1064), D-Nev., predicted the Senate would block the nomination again _ leaving Bush in a ticklish situation.

The vote was 54-38, six shy of the total needed to force a final vote on Bolton, and represented an erosion in support from last month's failed Republican effort. Sen. George Voinovich (JD -Ohio State University, 1961), R-Ohio, who voted in May to advance the nomination, switched positions. Like the vote in May, Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas (J.D. -University of Arkansas, 1988), Ben Nelson of Nebraska (JD -University of Nebraska, 1970) and Mary Landrieu (BA -Louisiana State University, 1977) of Louisiana were the only Democrats to support the move to have an immediate final vote.

The Good Are Soon Corrupted- Lawyers 1 Step Removed

Senator Durbin, a typical Senate LAWYER (JD, Georgetown University, 1969) is part of the reason the public feels cheated when good people are elected to office and have their outlooks changed by the Washington, D.C. political machinery. Lawyers of both parties comprise 53% of the Senate nowadays and 100% of the Judicial branch. The separation of powers, a system of checks and balances conceived by our founders, has been subverted by class rule -the Lawyer Class.

We would certainly not consider a Senate of over 50% Realtors, Auto Salespersons or College Professors to faithfully represent America. Yet, look what has happened. People feel: 1) lawyers are smart; 2) lawyers are good at writing and reading law; and, 3) lawyers are models of decorum making them "naturals" for the job of congressman or senator. All of the above may be partially true. But, in reality: 4) lawyers are also trained to defend the guilty with any plausible lie; 5) propagandize juries; and, 6) extort money through mere threats (of litigation and personal ruin).

Newcomers go to Washington to serve their constituencies as promised, but with their rules of decorum are given a new pecking order placing federal judges atop a power structure dominated entirely by lawyers. Newbies feel powerless, humbled and very vulnerable, especially when threatened with political threats and retribution. Conversion to the Washington way of thinking takes place relatively quickly. Lawyers, it seems, are only one step removed from con artists and mobsters. The difference lies in their license to practice law.

What's worse yet, is that long-serving Senators like Durbin are the role models for newcomers. Anyone besides me starting to see a problem with the status quo?

Update June 2005: Lawyer Kings Promote Their Job Security

In my May 23rd "EARLY WARNING: Colonization of the Senate" I explained the growing peril in diminished checks and balances between the three, separate branches of federal government. Lawyer-politicians dominate the legislative branches currently; their "kings," the federal judges, totally populate the judiciary at all times, and sometimes LAWYERS (e.g. Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon) have even headed the executive branch.

As one of the poor consequences, the public gets judicial leniency promoting recidivism (crime by repeat offenders). Recidivism, of course, boosts lawyer employment as new crimes and trials will require at minimum three lawyers - a judge, a defense attorney and a prosecutor. Upon appeal, the lawyer employment factor is repeated.

Only a week or so later comes this AP story by David Kravets: U.S. Court: Thousands Can Challenge Terms. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thousands of inmates doing federal time in the West won a chance to challenge their sentences under an appeals court ruling Wednesday. In its 7-4 ruling Wednesday, the 9th Circuit held for allowing all federal inmates whose convictions are on appeal to challenge their sentences. The 9th Circuit Court - the nations largest appeals court, covers nine Western states. Dissenting judges say the decision will prompt a flood of appeals estimated in "perhaps the thousands." (x 3 LAWYERS each)

GOOD NEWS! High Court Declines to Rule on Sentencing
WASHINGTON (AP) Jun 20, 10:45 AM (ET) - The Supreme Court decline today to consider whether hundreds of criminals sentenced before a landmark ruling on federal sentencing guidelines should receive reduced prison time. With no comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling against a Florida convict who challenged his nine-year, mandatory guideline, drug sentence that the Supreme Court subsequently threw out as unconstitutional in January. Rodriguez v. U.S., 04-1148